Cuba praises court decision overturning convictions for five agents News
Cuba praises court decision overturning convictions for five agents

[JURIST] In the wake of a US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals [official website] decision Tuesday in which the convictions and sentences of five accused Cuban spies [advocacy website] were overturned [JURIST report; PDF opinion], the Cuban government has called for the release of all five men. On Wednesday, Ricardo Alarcon, the speaker of the National Assembly in Cuba, praised the ruling and asked that the men be released while they await a new trial. The men were convicted in 2001 of spying and sentenced to 15 years in prison. They admitted they were Cuban spies, but said they were watching the activities of exile groups opposed to Cuban leader Fidel Castro [Wikipedia profile], rather than the US government. The Eleventh Circuit ruled that the trial in Miami was biased due to community prejudice and extensive media coverage. CBC News has more. From Havana, the Latin American News Agency has local coverage.

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